24 March 2011

Who's Your Brother? Your Sister?

In English we differentiate between male and female siblings. Male siblings are brothers and female siblings are sisters. Whether the speaker shares the sex of the brothers or of the sisters is of no importance in defining the relationship.

Shona differentiates between siblings of the same sex and siblings of the opposite sex. An elder sibling of the same sex as the speaker is called mukoma. A younger sibling of the same sex is called munin'ina. All siblings of the opposite sex are called hanzvadzi. In other words, a boy calls his older male siblings mukoma and his younger male siblings munin'ina. His female siblings are all hanzvadzi. Likewise, a girl calls her older female siblings mukoma and her younger female siblings munin'ina. All of her male siblings are hanzvadzi. Those a boy addresses as mukoma or munin'ina are addressed as hanzvadzi by a girl. Those a girl addresses as mukoma or munin'ina are addressed as hanzvadzi by a boy.

Since all brothers of one's biological father are baba, all of their children are either mukoma, munin'ina or hanzvadzi, depending upon the sex and relative age of the speaker. Because all sisters of one's biological mother are amai, the same relationships apply to their children.

To summarize, sons and daughters of one's parents, the father's brothers and mother's sisters are related as one's brothers and sisters. Children of the father's sisters and mother's brothers are not related as one's brothers and sisters. We will discover how they are related later.

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Tauratinzwe

"Taura tinzwe" is a Shona expression that literally says, "Speak that we may hear." It can be used to let a person know that you are ready to listen or to ask a speaker to speak louder. Here it is the "nom de plume" of . . .leon johnson